Stirling City is a census-designated place in Butte County, California, located on Paradise Ridge in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Contrary to its name, Stirling City is not a city. Its ZIP Code is 95978 and area code 530. It lies at an elevation of 3570 feet. Stirling City had a population of 295 at the 2010 census.Stirling City is located at 39°54′28″N 121°31′41″W / 39.90778°N 121.52806°W / 39.90778; -121.52806, around 45 miles northeast of Chico, California. It is built around a loop of the Southern Pacific Railroad, built to collect lumber from the Lassen National Forest.It was founded in 1903 by the Diamond Match Company of Barberton, Ohio, as a center for processing cut lumber from the surrounding forests. Diamond Match official Fred Clough named the city, taking the name from the boiler used at Diamond's Baberton plant, made by the Stirling Boiler Company.The sawmill closed in the early 1970s.